Closer Look at 17" LCD Monitor Features. Part VI. Page 17

We continue our detailed roundups of 17" flat-panel monitors. Today we will look at 16 solutions from LG, Samsung, Sony, Viewsonic, Mitsubishi, NEC, and a few others. For the first time in our lab we are proud to introduce to you a monitor from ASUS.

AG Neovo M-17

While LG tries to attract customers to its L1740B with bright colors and shiny surfaces, AG Neovo sticks to traditional color schemes but applies them to curiously designed cases. The M-17 model, a home multimedia monitor (the manufacturer refers to it as such), has no base proper. Its case is framed in a transparent acryl plate that stands on the desk, while a folding “leg” prevents the monitor from falling backwards. The case is not strictly rectangular because the control buttons are very large and go beyond the outline of the case.

This snapshot shows well the transparent plate as well as the monitor’s back support. By the way, the support doesn’t have a spring that would pull it to the monitor’s case as with other such monitors (this spring allows you to position the screen vertically by simply pulling the screen towards yourself – without the weight of the monitor the support itself finds the necessary position). Here, the support turns about with noticeable friction, so you have to set it at a desired angle with your own hand.

Of course, this design of the case does not permit to adjust the height of the screen or to portrait-orient it.

The M-17 has one analog and one digital input, an audio input for the integrated speakers, a headphones output, and a two-port USB hub (its input is on the front panel next to the other connectors, and its output is on the front panel). The power adapter is external.

The main control buttons are grouped around the huge Power On button which also opens up the menu (a single press on this button opens the menu and holding it for a few seconds turns the monitor off – you’ll see the countdown on the screen).

Two more buttons can be found on the right edge of the case: for auto-adjustment and for switching between the avMode modes. These buttons are highlighted with a single blue LED as you press them.

The monitor’s menu is kind of two-dimensional: the icons strip is scrolled vertically as you go from one setting to another, and when you are changing a certain setting its possible values are scrolled horizontally. The menu does not memorize the last adjusted setting and works rather slowly because of the animation that accompanies each press of the buttons (not because the monitor’s processor is too slow to perform the animation, but just because the animation itself takes some time). That said, I should confess this is the most curious and one of the most inconvenient implementations of an onscreen menu I’ve ever seen.